


Older and Wiser

by ArgylePirateWD



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-27 04:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8387563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgylePirateWD/pseuds/ArgylePirateWD
Summary: When an old enemy returns, it's time for Snow Spectre to come out of retirement and become allies with her former nemesis Bluefire again.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brachylagus_fandom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brachylagus_fandom/gifts).



Snow Spectre was dead, but Anika couldn't seem to bury her.

She tried to drown her in a bottle instead, but turned out Irene's pills had shot her ability to get drunk to shit. Drugs, too—sober as a judge, no matter what or how much she took. If she thought digging herself a grave and throwing herself in would work, she would, but she'd probably drag herself right back out, spitting up dirt and far too alive for someone who'd been underground for so long.

Other people couldn't bury her, either, apparently. She found another strand of electric blue hair on her front porch. The hairs were longer than they'd been at the Collapse, but still the same color. Bluefire was watching.

_Not so good at stealth anymore, are we, Blue?_

"If you're not here to fail at killing me again," Anika called out, unlocking the door to her house, "then what do you want?"

"Keeping tabs on you." Blue stepped out of the air, shrugging off her invisibility like a dress as she came up the sidewalk. Anika clenched her jaw. Same stupidly pretty face, same ridiculous hair and matching blue eyes, same obnoxious airy voice. She could walk in heels without stumbling now, though, at least, and had traded her suit and cape for jeans and a tee. "Wanted to see if you're all right."

"All right?" Anika let out a sharp bark of laughter. All right. Hell. "When did you turn into a dumbass, huh, Carol?"

"Don't call me Carol," Blue said, slightly drowned out by Anika's attempts to shove open her stubborn old door. "And you could've just said you're not okay, you know." But there was a teasing lilt in her tone and a crooked smile on her face. "Really now, Snow. There's no need to be rude."

The name hit like a fist to the gut, sent Anika staggering to a stop. "That's not my name." She cast a glare over her shoulder, but it didn't earn a reaction. No blubbering like a child, no apologizing, no pleading for her life. Either she'd lost her touch, or Bluefire had finally grown a spine.

Probably the former. Anika did look the part of the nondescript, meek librarian these days. Replacing bleached white hair with natural brown had been easy, as had exchanging sleek muscles for soft curves and skintight bodysuits for light dresses. Shedding the grit and the rage, well. Anger and teeth were as hard to kill as Snow Spectre.

"My name's Anika," she added, voice clipped, and she gestured for Blue to come inside. "You want some tea?"

"Tea?" Blue raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Kinda part of my new identity. Gotta be nice to guests now." Anika shrugged. "Anyway, I promise not to put too much cyanide in it."

"In that case?" Blue's grin grew wider. "Sold."

* * *

Had someone told her a few years ago that one day she and Bluefire would be sitting across from each other at a table, drinking lavender Earl Grey while Bluefire babbled at her like they were old friends, Anika would've laughed. If they'd said she'd almost enjoy Blue's company, she would've obliterated them. But having someone familiar around, someone who knew about her and the Collapse and all of the other nasty things—it was kind of nice.

Being a double agent hadn't made them friends, though, and Anika hadn't made it so far as Snow Spectre by trusting an enemy. She picked at Blue's words like a scab, analyzing every turn of phrase and waiting for the inevitable killing blow. Any second, Blue's posse would burst through the front door, ready to grab Anika and throw her to the dogs or whatever they did to their nemeses, late war alliances be damned. Soon, the other shoe would drop. The shoe always, _always_ dropped.

"Okay, enough with the chitchat." Anika rose from her seat and went over to the counter. "You are _not_ just here to keep an eye on me or check in on an old nemesis or whatever." She slammed her mug down in the sink, and in slow, carefully-enunciated words, demanded, "What do you want, Bluefire?"

Blue's animated face turned somber. "You're right," she said. "I'm not. We, um. We got some new intelligence recently—"

_There it comes..._

"—and we think that Irene Carver-Ellison might still be alive."

Anika froze, and her heart plunged to the floor, landing in a messy, metaphorical splatter at her feet. "What?"

Irene, alive? That was _not_ the shoe-drop she was expecting. And it wasn't supposed to be possible. Anika had killed her, shot a laser straight through that glacier that almost passed for a heart, checked Irene's pulse herself to be damn sure the death stuck. Even with a gut full of holes and lead and pain dragging Anika to her knees, she'd _checked._ Three times.

"Thought Irene was too chickenshit to test her experiments on herself." A bitter laugh escaped Anika's throat, and she turned away, hiding the emotion on her face from Blue. "Always said she was 'a scientist, not a lab rat.'"

"She wanted to become immortal, didn't she?" Blue asked. "That was one of her projects, right?"

"Yeah." One of the things that had drawn Anika to Irene, in fact. All that brilliance and promise. And Irene had gotten close—close enough that their little duel in the Collapse didn't take out Anika, thanks to those pills Irene made her take when they still loved each other. "That or figure out how to 'cure' death. Didn't think she'd succeeded."

Behind her, Blue got up, and carried her cup to the sink. "S.W.O.R.D. hasn't confirmed anything yet," she said, leaning back against the counter beside Anika, facing the other direction. "But..."

"If she's alive, Dr. Ice is _not_ gonna stay out of the limelight for long." Anika looked askance at Blue. "I haven't seen her, if that's what you're asking. And if she found me, well, I probably wouldn't still be around to have this conversation, you know? She doesn't take too well to spies. Didn't."

Blue quirked her lips. "I'd probably be speaking to a puddle if she had, right?"

"Or a smear of ash on the floor, yeah. Pretty much." Anika paused for a moment. Irene, possibly still alive. Damn. "You really think she's back out there somewhere?"

Expression turning serious, Blue said, "There's a non-zero chance she is, yeah. And since you know her better than anyone, I was wondering if you'd help us find her."

" _You_ were wondering? Guess that means you're not here with the S.W.O.R.D. Round Table's blessing, then." Anika let out a dramatic sigh. "So much for 'Thanks for helping us save the world, Ms. Wexler.'" Getting shot and killing your evil ex for the "greater good" weren't enough for some people, apparently.

"Yeah, well, Morton's still the same—what was it you called him?"

Anika thought back. God, she hadn't seen that—"Paranoid bastard," she said—in years.

Blue snapped her fingers and pointed at Anika. "That's it: paranoid bastard. And 'Moron Morton.'"

"And a lot of other names that weren't good for your tender teenage ears," Anika added.

"Right, like you weren't barely 19 yourself when we got roped into that war." Blue shook her head, and in a soft, wistful tone, continued, "Sixteen and nineteen. God. We were both too damn young, weren't we? Should've been sneaking out and getting drunk and kissing pretty girls like other lesbians our age, not doing stuff that could've ended the freakin' world.

"And..." Blue swallowed hard. "We almost _killed_ each other, Snow. Seriously. What the hell were Morton and Ice _thinking?_ "

Anika had been asking the same thing for years now, and all she could come up with was, "The ends justified the means, I guess."

"Yeah," Blue said, softly. "But maybe it'll be better this time. We're a little older, a little smarter. We're hopefully on the same side."

"I haven't said yes," Anika said.

"You will. If Ice finds you, you're a dead woman. You know that. But if you've got a few people on your side..."

Anika scoffed. "Yeah, how many people at S.W.O.R.D. are on my side? Morton doesn't trust me, I bet none of the others trust me..."

"If you're on their side, they're on yours." Blue held out her right hand, and Anika's stomach churned, and her mouth went dry. "Come on, Snow Spectre. Let's do this thing."

An alliance with her worst enemy, and a resurrection of herself. There were worse things. "All right," Snow Spectre said, and took Bluefire's hand. "I'm in."


End file.
